Critical Theory in the Classroom
February 10, 2008 by ilrlo
In his 1994 article, Toward Thoughtful Curriculum: Fostering Discipline-Based Conversation in the English Language Arts Classroom, Arthur Applebee brings up an interesting question through a student’s shared thoughts. Brett, the student, explains that his teacher asks questions in order to try to get students to think for themselves, but she is really looking for a specific answer that is correct for her (p. 1). I was struck by how often I probably do that. In class conversations, I definitely want my students to increase their individual critical thinking skills beyond pat answers. I always listen to a variety of different answers and try to make positive comments and follow-up questions for these answers. However, I often have a point to make during these discussions that I feel is beneficial for the class to think about. How can I get an important point across without limiting the discussion or the students’ deep thinking? My simple answer is that, when this point is reached by a student or explained by myself, I try to address it as just another good way of answering the question (there are probably more ways and more specific strategies that lead to thoughtful class discussion; please let me know your thoughts).
Students need to know that there are multiple perspectives that one can take on a reading and that most are correct. Sometimes, answers seem rather irrelevant to the topic or just not very well thought-through. This is why I think that it is very, very important that students understand that they need to back up these answers/conjectures/perspectives with actual supporting details from the text. If there is no evidence to support answers, then the answer may not be correct despite there being multiple ways to answer.
A way to work on not just looking for a specific answer (which Brett complained about) is to form questions that are open to multiple perspectives and require critical thinking. Obviously, some questions can kill conversation if they point to only one answer. Our students need good prompts in discussion as well as in writing. One way to get the discussion rolling, I believe, is to introduce students to different literary theory stances that they could take on the text. Deborah Appleman (2000), in Critical Encounters in High School English: Teaching Literary Theory to Adolescents, discusses the positive effects of including literary theory in lessons: “…the sources of these different perspectives do not always spring from personal experience…it offers readers a variety of tinted lenses through which they can view things differently” (p. 20). If students learn about literary theories, then they can take this knowledge and address what the text is stating from different views. This would be a good starting point for a class that is not yet comfortable with sharing interpretations of the text colored by personal perspectives.
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Fostering that atmosphere of respect and contribution is essential to the constructivist pedagogy Applebee describes, and I agree with you developing it can be tough. Besides allowing students to take on the roles of different perspectives (which is a good idea that I’m going to borrow), I’ve also thought about allowing them to stay anonymous by collecting their ideas in a hat and reading them. You could also do something like the activity that Appleman describes (Critical Encounters in High School English, pgs. 14-16, 2000: students share their own reading of a text to be shared anonymously with other students who contribute their own reading or suggestions. These exchanges could be short, free-writes that get worked on and turned into essays, even.
I feel the same way you do about those loaded questions, and would also like to hear some suggestions about how to promote thoughtful and critical inquiry on the part of students. When I catch myself asking questions I already know the answer to, I usually confess it, give my answer, and then ask rhetorically why I thought that to model for the students, but I don’t know if it benefits the students at all.
Hi, ilrlo,
Your post on multiple responses make me think of Trey, a special-education student who is main-streamed into one of the college-prep 11th grade classes I teach. While he’s usually not the highest-scoring student, he is often the most vocal when it comes to school work, bless his heart. If I throw a question out to be answered, most of the time his hand shoots up immediately. The problem? His answers are like something out of the Twilight Zone — they often make no sense on -any- level. I keep it positive and thank him for his answer, but at the same time I’m careful not to validate it by telling him he’s right.
My point is that sometimes a student’s answer =is= just completely wrong. How should we handle it? I think my method is probably adequate, but I’m open to suggestions.
Packerbacker
Your post made me think about the way texts can position their readers; just as various lenses of literary criticism can shape the reader’s perceptions of a work, so too can the work itself presuppose a reader to a specific stance or interpretation. Writers work very hard to make certain characters likeable or villainous, and it is helpful to the literary conversation to recognize when the writer is manipulating them…
I like the idea of teaching literary criticism as a tool to encourage commentary from students who may not be comfortable sharing their own interpretations of a text. Viewing a text through a lens of criticism frees the student from the opinion being their own; “Hey, if we look at this from a feminist perspective, we can see that Louise is awakening to herself as she sits in her room.” I like the idea of a student having these tools to use in their interpretations, and I am even more in favor of their use in the classroom if it can inspire further conversations.
-Ludlow
As you know, I’m investigating the role of asking effective questions in facilitating productive classroom discussion for both my Action Research project and my big practicum project. One of the things that I have found in my research is that teachers need to learn how to ask truly “open” questions—not just questions that expect more than just “yes” or “no,” but questions for which the answer is also still open. It is more fun and instructional for both the teacher and for the class if the questions are left that way. I spent most of last semester asking questions and looking for specific answers. Even when I would try to play the “devil’s advocate” during discussion, I would be looking for a specific response to what I was suggesting. I know that I need to (but am not sure that I am ready to) relinquish control of “THE ANSWER” when asking questions, particularly discussion questions.
To build on what grammarfan has written, I also do not think I do a good job of asking the right kinds of questions. I am willing to relinquish control (I think), but I do not seem to get anywhere with my students. I have even done a lesson or two on effective questioning and allowed them to write their own questions for discussion. But the discussion still seems to come to a dead end. I had hoped that allowing them to structure the discussion would pique interest; my strategy did not work like I planned. I am curious as to what other people are doing to get kids engaged in the literature. How do I get them interested in texts that are, in their words, ancient and boring?